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Entry 113Filed under Breeding

First Confirmed Footage of a Living Colossal Squid in Its Deep-Sea Habitat

In March 2025, an ROV filmed a juvenile colossal squid at about 600 metres near the South Sandwich Islands—the first confirmed footage of the species in its natural deep-sea habitat.
2-minute read By Animalso Team
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A remotely operated vehicle filmed a juvenile colossal squid in its natural deep-sea habitat for the first time on 9 March 2025, near the South Sandwich Islands. The animal was about 30 centimetres long and appeared at roughly 600 metres depth. The footage came a century after the species was formally named in 1925.

What the footage shows

The encounter took place during an Ocean Census expedition in the South Atlantic. Schmidt Ocean Institute’s ROV SuBastian, deployed from the research vessel Falkor (too), recorded the juvenile at approximately 600 metres (1,968 feet). It was about 30 centimetres (roughly one foot) long. Those measurements describe the individual filmed, not the species’ adult size.

The institute announced the footage in April 2025. Experts checked the animal’s identification before the video was announced. Squid expert Kat Bolstad of Auckland University of Technology described it as “the first confirmed footage of the colossal squid at home in the deep sea,” as quoted by National Geographic.

What “first-ever” means—and what it does not

The milestone is the first confirmed live footage of Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni in its natural deep-sea habitat. It does not mean this was the first time people had encountered a colossal squid in any form. The claim is specifically about a confirmed observation of a living animal at home in the ocean, rather than specimens or other indirect evidence.

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The filmed squid was a juvenile, not a giant adult. The sighting therefore offers a rare view of a young colossal squid in its environment; it does not document adult behavior or establish how common the species is.

Why the century reference points to 1925

The “century after its discovery” framing refers to the species’ formal naming in 1925, not to a claim that no one knew of the animal before 2025. Te Papa Tongarewa marked the naming centenary in 2025. The squid’s scientific name is Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni.

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How the squid was filmed

SuBastian is a remotely operated vehicle used to explore deep-sea environments. It captured the squid during the Ocean Census expedition near the South Sandwich Islands. Expedition leader Michelle Taylor said the Ocean Census network worked with Schmidt Ocean Institute to accelerate species discovery and expand knowledge of ocean life, with the work shared live with the global science community, according to the University of Essex announcement.

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What the sighting tells us

The footage confirms that researchers observed a juvenile colossal squid alive in its natural deep-sea habitat. It is a meaningful glimpse of an elusive animal, but one sighting cannot establish a population estimate, abundance, or a broader account of the species’ life and behavior.

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For background on the species’ naming and related educational materials, see Te Papa Tongarewa.

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